Backhoes are well known earth moving vehicles particularly suited for digging holes and ditches in the ground. While these vehicles are admirably suited to dig in the earth and move loose dirt and small rocks, they are not well suited to pick up objects that do not fit easily in the bucket. For example, a slab of concrete, a large rock, a tree trunk, or a bundle of long sticks, may be larger than the dimensions of the bucket and such loads cannot be picked up easily by a backhoe. What is needed to provide this capability is a clamping element which works against the bucket movement in the same way a thumb opposes the fingers of a human hand in picking up items and moving them from place to place.
These problems have been addressed in the prior art and attempts to solve the problems have been described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,273,729 to Holopainen; 3,353,285 to Murray; 4,375,345 to Hanson; and 4,407,626 to Bruckner. Two of these patents employ a hydraulically powered movable jaw to oppose the movement of the backhoe bucket. The other two employ a fixed clamping jaw against which the bucket can be moved to clamp items therebetween. Each of these improvements has some disadvantage that prevents it from being fully useful on a small backhoe for performing all types of pick-up tasks.
It is an object of this invention to provide a novel clamping device for a backhoe. It is another object of this invention to provide a simple, detachable, fixed clamping jaw for a backhoe. Still other objects will appear from the more detailed description which follows.